The Amherst College Men’s Track and Field 2011-2012 season is finally underway! On December 3, the men’s sprinters, throwers, and jumpers made the short jaunt to Smith College to compete in the 2011 Winter Classic, where they took full advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate the gains they had made during fall training. The afternoon’s highlights began when sophomore Persie Gijima led Amherst’s short sprinters in the 60m dash, in which three of the five entrants qualified for finals. Ultimately Gijima placed fourth, junior Selasie Krampa took fifth, and sophomore Javier Paulino marked eighth. Speculation remains that if Krampa were to have remembered to remove his warm ups before the race, he might have taken Gijima at the line. These three would return in the 200m dash, where Krampa would take first, Gijima third, and Paulino fourth with times of 24.11, 24.53, and 24.64. Freshman jumper/sprinters Mark Cort and Steve Hetterich made their collegiate debuts this weekend in the triple jump, the 400m dash, and the 200m dash. The triple saw the pair take first and third with leaps of 12.57m and 11.93m; the 400 saw the pair take second and fourth at 55.05 and 55.91; and the 200 saw the two first years finish in second and seventh. The 600m run provided the day’s fireworks as sophomore speedster Matt Melton charged from third place to an apparent victory over Jabulani Blyden from rival Williams College, though was credited with only second. He made the three-lap turn in 1:23.32. Also in the event first year Nick Codola logged a respectable 1:25.39 for fourth place and senior Pete Skurman crossed the line at 1:29.89, breaking the 1:30 barrier for the first time in his career. In the afternoon’s relay action, Amherst’s A team of Codola, Skurman, first year Alex Durkee, and Melton nabbed second in 3:24.99, while one of the day’s big highlights came from junior Wrenford Thaffe who anchored the fifth place B team in a significant personal best split of 54.8 seconds. In the throwing circle, junior Denzel Duncan displayed his newfound strength with a seventh-place toss of 11.91m, an indoor PR of over half a meter.